19. Maxim
19
MAXIM
T his time, when I woke up, I didn’t get out of bed. After two mornings of not waking up with Nadia snuggled next to me, I realized how much I wanted to spend the first moments of every day like this.
With her, warm and relaxed, her soft, naked body pressed flush to mine. We’d showered after that bath, and then when we came back to bed, we had sex once more. I could tell she was too tired for anything more, so together, we fell asleep, wrapped up with each other.
Her leg was draped over mine, like she wanted to cling to me in sleep. I ran my hand up and down her arm that covered my chest, and I gazed at her sleeping face so close to mine.
She damn near cuddled me like a teddy bear, like a toy she needed for comfort, and I wanted to give it to her. I wanted to give her the whole fucking world.
Back and again, I stroked my hand over her slender arm, reveling in the contrast between us. She was paler to my tanned complexion, but with the tattoos lining her skin, she looked even more unique. One of a kind.
And mine?
I had to make up my mind where Nadia was concerned. I debated it, but it seemed foolish to consider not keeping her in my life. While I was pulled to see through this duty and complete this job, I gave up trying to rationalize it.
Alek would give me more assignments.
Ivan was right. I had proven my worth, even if until now, it was behind the scenes, at a computer and not out on the streets. So what? I wasn’t worthless. I contributed to the success of the Bratva, and I always would.
I couldn’t have anticipated this job turning out like this, but I had softened up to realize that maybe this was meant to be. That Nadia and I were fated to meet and clash, then merge into something that seemed a lot like love.
But I had to do this right. What I was stuck on, as I lay with Nadia, was the desire to make it so Lev couldn’t get her.
Proposing to kill the old man was out of the question. That would cause too many problems, and Alek did not need an internationally strong Bratva to come at us.
However, I racked my mind to think of a way that Lev wouldn’t need to take her. It sounded like he was focused on having only Nadia. Which perplexed me. If he hadn’t seen her throughout her life, except perhaps in pictures if Gregory provided them, why would he need to get so hung up on making her, specifically, his bride?
Maybe it’s because he was thwarted once by Gregory, when he married Sabrina, so it was something like an eye for an eye?
I didn’t know. I didn’t want to know. It seemed unlikely that I could offer Lev another bride in her place.
A promise was a promise, and I hated that for the principle of it. According to Alek, we would cause too many issues if this promised engagement didn’t happen.
I wasn’t in the mood to accept that. There had to be a way. So, with great reluctance to give up a moment of this sweet peace with her sleeping next to me, I eased out of bed and waited to make sure she was still asleep.
I trusted her. I felt like I had to after the connection we forged last night. It seemed like we’d taken a huge step forward, and I was confident she wouldn’t leave again.
However, as I sat in the chair and stared at her, I knew she would ask me what would happen next.
And that was where my brother came into play.
I dressed and left Nadia sleeping as I went into the other room and paced. Keeping the door open left me a view of her in the bigger bed in the main room of the suite, but the distance between us offered some modicum of privacy, and she didn’t stir as I called Alek.
“What’s going on?” he asked as a greeting. “It’s been days. I need your help with finding Dmitri.”
It felt good to be wanted, to be needed and depended upon to help find our brother. Yet, the news I would give him would complicate my ability to rush to help.
“I found her in the hospital. She was hit by a car and lied that she had amnesia so no one could find her.”
He sighed.
“I called asking about women with her description, and I have her with me again.”
“Good. So you’ll fly home today?”
I didn’t hesitate. “I don’t want to, Alek.”
He cursed, but I was expecting it. I was telling him something he didn’t want to hear, so I wasn’t surprised by his reaction. Alek wasn’t a hotheaded asshole, though. Since he’d married Mila and become a father, he’d mellowed.
“How bad would it be if I kept her?” I asked. I held my breath, waiting for his reply.
“Maxim…” he said on a long, aggravated exhale.
“It’s what you did with Mila,” I rushed to say. It wasn’t the strongest argument, but it was true. Nik pointed out the slight differences. Alek had taken Mila to stop the Kastavas from setting us up in a sting so they could take us over. Nik had rescued Amy from a human trafficking ring. And I was… just failing to get Nadia to the groom she never wanted.
“It’s not what I did with Mila,” he argued.
“It is. She was standing at the altar, arranged to marry our cousin, and you literally snatched her from him. I was there. I helped. Remember? I set up the priest for you to take her for yourself.”
He cleared his throat. “I do recall that, yeah.”
“You can’t fault me for doing the same thing.”
“You’re right. I would be a hypocrite to judge you for wanting to do something… similar. But, Maxim. Have you honestly, truly, and fully considered whether Nadia is worth it?”
I furrowed my brow, staring at her sleeping. He had to ask?
“It’s been, what, a few days?”
“You only knew Mila that long before you married her,” I shot back. Again, I hated the feeling that I was resorting to cheap arguments.
“Would she be your woman—and stay your woman?” he asked. He wasn’t being nasty about it. His tone was neutral. “Could she be seducing you?—”
“No. No, I don’t think so.” She was a virgin, so clueless and inexperienced. “She hasn’t learned how to seduce a man, not like she would need to if she was trying to manipulate me.”
“You’ve considered that, though?”
“What?” I scowled. “That she’s sleeping with me just to get out of marrying Lev? No. That’s not what she’s doing. She swore to run from Lev before I found her, and she has been committed to avoiding Lev since I met her. That hasn’t ever changed.”
The truth was that I felt like I’d seduced the younger woman. She was na?ve, but not stupid.
“Okay. Let’s say you go through with this. You make her yours. Would she stay for the long term? For a marriage?”
No one divorced in the Bratva. If she agreed to be mine, it would be for life.
Despite her tendency to run, I was certain that she would stay with me and choose me for good. Sure, she said that last night. She gave me flowery, poetic promises about wanting to choose me, even theoretically as her husband. But I believed her. I heard the commitment in her tone, I saw the sincerity in her eyes, and I felt the intensity of her need when we fucked.
“I am confident that she wants to be with me.”
He huffed. “Just because you’re the better option than Lev Avilov?”
“No. Because she wants me .” I wasn’t being cocky. I believed it in my heart.
Alek accepted that. He didn’t goad me and question it all, and I wanted to think he relented because he’d once been in my shoes too. He’d taken his wife when she was promised to someone else. If anything, it was like he’d set the precedent for us.
“All right,” he said with another heavy exhale. “Let’s say you don’t bring Nadia to her father so Lev can get her. We need to consider and discuss the ramifications of how angry he’ll be. How he might retaliate.”
“I don’t want to do anything to set the Bratva up to suffer,” I hurried to say. I didn’t need to voice that. Alek knew. All of us were loyal to the Family, but in this case, I had to be loyal to what I wanted too.
“And that’s the catch. We can’t go about this with any risk of the Valkov name suffering because we’d failed to back up this original agreement between Petrov and Avilov.”
I rubbed the back of my neck, tense to bring this up. “And I already muddied it up by attacking Erik Avilov in London, which made it look like I was already trying to keep Nadia from Lev.”
He grunted. “Yeah, that. But, and this will be good news for you, that incident prompted me to look into the Avilovs a little more since then.”
I perked up. He had mentioned being suspicious of the Avilov outfit in our other call.
“And I’ll continue to investigate it. I’ve got a few men on it. It’s too early to figure out whether it’s a rumor or a fact, but it seems like there is a chance that the Avilovs are the ones who are backing one of our rivals.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Who?”
“The fucking Kastavas,” he growled. “We’ve found evidence of Sergei Kastava seeking funding from the Avilovs.”
I gritted my teeth, instantly hating Lev even more. The Kastavas weren’t only an enemy. They were the ones Dmitri fought and had been captured by.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I said.
“No. I’m not. Not at all.”
“The Avilovs and Kastavas formed an alliance? Since when?”
Alek laughed dryly. “Since I stole his daughter from him and got him screwed over with his plans to ruin our Bratva. All this time, he’s been trying to build back up. It’s not surprising that he’d be seeking a bigger Family to give them some resources.”
I grunted. “Yeah, resources to attack us. And take Dmitri.”
“Suffice it to say that things are as black and white as they seem. If the Avilovs are funding and backing the Kastavas, then I don’t give a fuck who that old bastard wants to marry. I wouldn’t support any engagement, and I wouldn’t provide help to make it happen.”
“When did you learn about this development?”
He barked a single laugh. “Right before you fucking called.”
I had to smile.
“I don’t know how everything could line up for you. That when you realize you want Nadia, it might be something we could arrange.”
Even if the Avilovs weren’t funding the Kastavas, I would refuse to give Nadia up.
“So, sit tight, all right? Hold on and wait until I can get back to you with more information.”
I nodded, relieved that I had his support. That was what a good leader—and brother—did, though. They stood by their loved ones no matter what.
“We will.” I trusted him to act in my best interests, and if anyone could orchestrate the destruction of an arranged marriage, it’d be him. He had particular experience in doing so.
We disconnected the call. I couldn’t wait to explain this all to Nadia.
As I headed toward the bed, she woke and sat up, peering at me drowsily.
“Where’d you go?” she asked around a big yawn.
“Not far,” I replied. And I never will.